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Market trends remain highly uncertain, with sharp swings on either side leaving participants confused about the market's true direction. The only consolation as we head into the final day of the expiry is that sentiment has been severely disrupted, and any meaningful recovery in confidence is likely to take time.
On October 26, 2026, Indian equity markets staged a strong recovery after a weak start, with benchmark indices reversing early losses to close firmly in the green. The Nifty 50 gained 153.20 points or 0.68% to settle at 22,753.20, while the Sensex advanced 482.92 points or 0.66% to close at 73,606.75.
SAILIFE: Buy above ₹1450, stop ₹1380 target ₹1575 (Multiday)
ACE: Buy above ₹1020, stop ₹978 target ₹1135 (Multiday)
LT: Buy above ₹3700, stop ₹3575 target ₹4010 (Multiday)
The session began on a cautious note amid elevated crude oil prices, geopolitical tensions, and uncertainty surrounding global central bank policies. However, value buying at lower levels and improved sentiment in select sectors helped markets rebound sharply from intraday lows.
Sectorally, metals and pharmaceuticals emerged as the key drivers of the recovery, with the Nifty Metal and Pharma indices gaining nearly 2% each. Healthcare stocks also witnessed strong buying interest, while media and consumer durable stocks underperformed. Broader markets outperformed the benchmarks, with the Nifty Midcap 100 rising 1.19% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 gaining 1.38%, indicating renewed participation beyond frontline stocks.
Among individual stocks, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories surged over 6 percent following strong quarterly results, while JSW Steel and Adani Ports were among the top gainers. On the downside, Shriram Finance, Tata Consumer Products, Bajaj Finance, and HDFC Life faced selling pressure after earnings-related concerns.
Trends remain tense as we have been highlighting on a continuous basis in the previous articles as well. The lack of clarity that we are observing now is bound to cause some confusion. Currently the market has traded higher on Monday, it is now expected that we would now speed up in the rally. But those expectations came to naught as the pries pulled back forming higher lows across day. The trading, for most part, was quite active as intraday moves too were quite stilted. As a result, we had some boring times in the market. This remains the case at the end of the current week as well as the market churns around the same zone while attempting to move higher. But those efforts are still quite listless.
Technically, Nifty reclaimed its 20-day moving average and closed near the day's high, signaling improving short-term momentum. We have been highlighting the 22,300–22,400 zone as a crucial support area, while 22,800–23,000 remains an important resistance band. Despite the recovery, elevated crude prices, geopolitical uncertainty, and global central bank decisions continue to warrant caution. Overall, the session reflected resilient buying interest, with investors selectively accumulating quality stocks after recent corrections.
Raja Venkatraman is co-founder, NeoTrader. His Sebi-registered research analyst registration no. is INH000016223.
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Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts. These do not represent the views of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.
Raja Venkatraman is the co-founder of NeoTrader, where he heads the training division. He conducts both offline and live market workshops, seminars, and webinars. He has been working under the guidance of Dr C K Narayan, his mentor and founder of Growth Avenues, for more than 20 years. He is an active trader in multiple asset classes, and actively shares his views on YouTube, blogs at NeoTrader, and on reputed news channels and websites. His Sebi-registered research analyst registration no. is INH000016223.
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